Mac shares on a Windows 2000 Server

Question

I run a Windows2000 server with mac shares for my department. For some reason I have a file name length restriction of 31 characters (including the file extension). This is not a restriction on the Windows Server itself nor is it a restriction on any of my local MAC Workstations (OSX 10.3.9/10.4.9). But when I access the Windows/MAC Share from a OSX Workstation, I get the restriction. Files with greater than 31 characters show up "restr~1.indd" or similar.
Any Help?
John

Answer 1

Hi John!
This is a limitation of the AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) file sharing protocol used by Windows Server. Even in Windows Server 2003 it's still stuck at version 2.2, which has the 31 character limit. Mac OS X 10.4 by comparison is at AFP 3.x, which raises the character limit to 255 characters.
Since Microsoft has made no improvements in Windows Server's File Services for Macintosh for the past two or three versions of the server software I highly doubt future versions will be updated or even incorporate File Services for Macintosh.
You have a few options:
1. Get a better AFP server such as Group Logic's <http://www.grouplogic.com> ExtremeZ-IP. It's expensive but well supported.
2. Use SMB instead of AFP. It's built into Mac OS X.
3. Use a better SMB client such as Dave from Thursby <http://www.thursby.com>. I recommend this over #2 for more than infrequent use. It too is well supported.
4. Install a Mac OS X Server system. This can be an XServe or just a workstation running Mac OS X Server.
Hope this helps! bill
1 GHz Powerbook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.9)